Tom Tykwer's adaptation of Perfume is a difficult film to classify into any specific genre. Parts of the final act play out like a horror film, and as a typical drama it lacks the kind of protagonist of which an audience could relate . It's the story of one Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born in a fish market, his mother attempts to discard her child, is discovered, and severely punished. I must first point out Grenouille's peculiar gift. The boy was born with such an acute sense of smell that he can not only identify individual and unique scents that regular people wouldn't even know existed, he can differentiate them from conflicting odors on a grand scale. Born into poverty and abandonment Grenouille is carted between owners, his only value equal to the money which could be made from his labor. It isn't until he has the chance to come into contact with a perfumer past their prime that he's able to explore and begin discovering the techniques to art of capturing and mastering the odors and aromas that have captivated him all his life, the very smells that bring him beauty in the world.The film is a reasonably close adaptation of the novel by Patrick Süskind. The only large section missing from the movie is one where Grenouille plays guinea pig to an eccentric "scientist" who has strange ideas about the superior health rejuvenating attributes of air and objects from higher altitudes. Though this part of the novel is fairly entertaining and rewarding in its own way, it isn't difficult to see why it was cut for the film and I don't miss its presence all that much. It would have conflicted with the tone of the film and would have most likely derailed its progression and pacing.
Another important thing to explain about Grenouille is his general disregard for other people and life in general. His only passion, or rather obsession, is the wonder he is able to explore with his olfactory senses. What results is the absence of any emotion or guilt as he systematically stalks and murders several young women in the attempt to capture their scent, and to create a perfect perfume. Grenouille is surely a monster, though an intriguing one at that. His obsessions can't respectfully be classified as simple greed, it's a compulsion, a driving force he seemingly has no control over. This isn't a film about heroes or villains, though Grenouille could certainly be better described as the latter rather than the former. It is a film about the power of beauty, how it is both alluring and potentially threatening. It is also a type of beauty that I find so rarely explored in films, that of the beauty of scent.
Top films of 2006:
Perfume is actually the eighth film on my list of ten from 2006 so here is a quick section dedicated to the ninth and tenth.
9. A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater)
Another Richard Linklater film that barely misses my larger list. This time Linklater creates a fairly faithful adaptation of Phillip K. Dick's novel of the same name. Like much of Dick's work it is contemplative of hypothetical tyrannical control and altogether thoroughly distressing. His choice for the movie's animation design adds to the feel of surrealism and at times nightmarish disembodiment presented in the picture. An overlooked science fiction film and one of the better adaptations of Dick's work to date.
10. The Host (Joon-Ho Bong)
From Korean director Joon-Ho Bong comes one of the most exciting and rewarding monster films in decades. Bong's film is like an adventurous monster picture and could rest quite easily with the best from the likes of Guillermo del Toro, Steven Spielberg, or Peter Jackson in that regard. What is essentially most important about the film is the way the characters are held as a priority over the story concept of the film and this proves to enhance the drama and tension considerably. Rather than being primarily effects driven or concept driven, something like 2008's Cloverfield which does indeed boast an inviting film technique, even if it is at times a bit of a novelty utilized far better in The Blair Witch Project (1999), Cloverfield is lacking in a connection with the characters in the film, which is shallow and mediocre at best. The Host's strength lies in how it presents the story around its characters and the value gained by becoming emotionally involved with them, which is something to be admired and encouraged.
10 Films of 2006:
8. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Tom Tykwer)
9. A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater)
10. The Host (Joon-Ho Bong)
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